November 2024 tiny ruins*. performance with Forough Fami @ St.-Pauls-Kirche Wedding, November 15th 2024, 7 pm / free entrance, no registration needed After its destruction in World War II, St.-Pauls-Kirche was renovated from 1952 to 1957. While the exterior of the antique-inspired church, designed by Karl-Friedrich-Schinkel, was restored to its original state, the decision was made to remove the classical pillars and plaster ornaments from the interior. Today, the tiny ruins which remain of these decorations sit in a corner, quietly collecting dust. Besides that, speaking of tiny ruins also relates to human beings going through moments of crisis: lost loves, broken ties, shattered hopes, … We, too, break, over and over again, become “tiny ruins”. Tiny in comparison to the whole of this city, this country, this planet, and beyond. Our wounds and losses do not matter so much in the bigger picture, despite how tragic they feel to us. Just as ruins open a space to rebuild, our personal falls make room for renewal, for the change we may not even know we need. *tiny ruins is the name of a band. and we don’t want to steal it. just borrow it for one night. ///
Category: Senza categoria
October 2024
October 2024 Since 2021, I am part of Denk- und Produktionsort Libken, a residency for artists, researchers and activists in Böckenberg (Uckermark). For a while now, we have been organizing the place and curating the cultural program consisting of a.o. exhibitions, workshops, and residency programs as a small team of four people. This year, a funding by Fonds Darstellende Künste and Bundesnetzwerk flausen+ gave me the opportunity to invite and accompany two performing artists, Christian Limber and Victoria Schulz, who are both interested in rural working class identity during and after the GDR. Another weekend of this year’s Libken season that will stay in my mind, combined an inspiring workshop on embodying and understanding dreams (with choreographer Anna Nowicka) and an evening of discussion about current right wing tendencies in the region around Libken (organized by Anna Bartholdy and others). It was great to see so many people who politically fight against the racist, sexist and ableist voices that are getting louder! Last weekend, we celebrated the season and its end with FOOD & SHELTER. In collaboration with ACRE studios, Berlin, the artist Jonas Klock set up his mobile shelter on the field that begins right at the edge of our grounds and Cécile Kobel cooked a delicious bean-based meal for the guests of the inauguration. Photo: Jonas Klock /// Save the date! On the 15th of November, Forough Fami and I will perform at St. Paul Kirche in Wedding. This will be our first collaboration and a work that we develop in dialogue with the spacial givens of the renovated Schinkel building. The performance is part of the church’s open doors weekend under the headline PLAYGROUND_Wandel. I’m excited to play with Forough! ///
September 2024
September 2024 Past Saturday, we brought the participatory performance Zu Tisch, into the garden around the famous Mäusebunker, a former research laboratory in the south of Berlin that looks like a mix between a spaceship, a tank and a pyramid. Thank you to Urbane Praxis for inviting us and to everyone who took part in the experimental dialogue format around the topic of urban co-habition and wellbeing! ///
August 2024
August 2024 I’m leaving Vienna after five intensive weeks of classes, workshops, performances, artistic exchange, sweaty dance floors, laughter and love. I’m bringing back with me so many great memories, insights and inspirations that will continue to unravel. I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to meet some amazing dancers, artists and teachers from a generation that has shaped the field of performance before I was even born. Amongst them, I would like to mention especially Ishmael Houston-Jones, Sara Shelton Mann and Glenna Batson. Thank you so much for passing on your wisdoms and tricks, developed over many years of work! It was a great gift to be mentored by Isabel Lewis, who is a master of listening and trusting the senses, including the sense of pleasure. And I’m happy to have 50 new friends and colleagues to be in conversation with all over the world! The pictures below were taken in a workshop with Isabel Lewis and in one with the wonderful Zagreb-based artist Sonja Pregrad. /// One more note on my Impulstanz summer: Deva Schubert’s Glitch Choir, in which I have performed mid July was chosen as a winner of the 8:TENSION price that is given each year to one of the young and upcoming choreographers presenting their work in the frame of the festival. I’m proud of my friend and happy that I was part of this beautiful project! ///
July 2024
July 2024 Goodbye Berlin and see you soon, Vienna! I have been invited to take part in this year’s Impulstanz festival as a danceWEB resident. And I am very, very happy about this unique opportunity to take part in so many different workshops, see a lot of performances and meet new colleagues from all over the world! Thanks to Tanja-Liedtke-Stiftung my stay in Vienna is completely covered and I would like to express my gratitude to Gerlinde and Kurt Liedtke for their generous support. The two have started to fund contemporary dance projects all over the world after their daughter, dancer and choreographer Tanja Liedtke, passed away in an accident. I’m deeply touched by how two parents who have gone through such a tragic experience, keep their child’s memory alive by nourishing and supporting what has once been her big passion in life. /// On July, 12th, 13th and 14th, I will perform in Deva Schuberts Glitch Choir @mumok Museum moderner Kunst in Vienna. The performance is part of Impulstanz’ 8:tension program, which features found and upcoming choreographers. Having seen the piece, I can promise pleasures for both, eyes and ears. Find more info and tickets here and maybe see you in Vienna! /// Finally, I’d like to share some visual impressions from Studies on Infinity @ Sommerfest.ival Wiesenburg. Thank you Isabelle, Forough, Manuel, Melika, Veronika, Arantxa, Jan, Aya, Maja, Yen, Heiko, Bruno, Nancy, and everyone who has been a part of those beautiful three days! Photographs taken by Dieter Hartwig ///
June 2024
June 2024 This is info after the fact. I’m still happy to share this poster of last weekend’s open Shape Note Singing in Libken, organized together with Evelyn Saylor and Marco Weßnigk. The poster was designed by Joachim Bartsch. /// And here comes a very short notice invitation to KM28 in Neukölln, on Tuesday, June 4th! I will perform in some songs and pieces by composers and friends Dina Maccabee and Evelyn Saylor. Doors open at 8pm, the concert starts at 8:30pm. More info through KM28. /// A longer notice invitation: There will be a continuation of Isabelle Schads Studies on infinity. This time, she looks at nudity and landscape. The durational performance is part of the Summerfest.ival at Wiesenburg from June 28th to 30st. Studies on Infinity#2: Nudity and Landscape will happen Friday and Saturday from 6 to 8pm. On Sunday, 2pm, I will present the lecture performance High Fidelity (in German) once more. Infos about tickets and the rest of the program can be found through Wiesenburg. “J. erzählt, dass sie keine Bücher und keine Schallplatten im Regal stehen habe. Sie wolle sich an nichts festhalten. Wenn man sich an nichts festhält, dann könne man selbst auch nicht verloren gehen, wenn die Dinge verloren gehen. Ich erinnere mich daran, wie mein Herz klopfte, als ich mir zum ersten Mal eine Waschmaschine kaufen wollte. Natürlich hatte ich keine Angst davor, die Waschmaschine ausversehen zu verlieren. Vielmehr plagte mich die Vorstellung, sie könne in der Wohnung oder sogar an mir festwachsen und wasserspuckend alles überschwemmen. Nicht nur die Wohnung – das ganze Haus, mein ganzes Leben! Kein Wunder, dass ich mich heute hauptsächlich mit Dingen beschäftige, die sich nicht festhalten lassen. Die, wie meine Stimme, jetzt da sind und gleich nicht mehr.” ///
May 2024
May 2024 Together with visual artist Ana Halina Ringleb and actress Carla-Frieda Nettelnbreker, in the past weeks, I have been further developing a playful conversation format and participatory performance around a table. Zu Tisch was now invited as an open proposal to engage in a discussion about solidarity in the frame of the BURNING ISSUES conference at Deutsches Theater Berlin. In a fluid form, our talk will meander around the conditions, tools and potentials of solidarity. When and how do we practice solidarity? How do we profit from it? Who is granted solidarity and who not? We start at 7:30 pm with a warm-up in front of the theatre. Sign up or just come by! /// Thank you to the organizers of BURNING ISSUES and to everyone who participated in last weeks permeable performance format ZU TISCH! /// While I’m mostly hosting other residents in Libken, at the moment, I am on a small residency there myself. With Philipp Enders, we are working on a vocal project that explores the amateuresque activity of “singing along”. Zweitlandschaften are for now four small pieces, in which we layered our own as well as some friends’ voices, singing along to existing musical pieces. Thank you to Mattia Colucci for tuning in and to Jolle, the cat, for being one of our first audiences! ///
March 2024
March 2024 If on Sunday, March 17th you happen to be in Worpswede, which – I am aware – does not just happen, please come to the Große Kunstschau Worpswede. Together with performers, Josephine Brinkmann, Sylvie Viain and Alexander Groß, I’ll be performing VIOLINS. VIOLENCE. SILENCE, a sound piece based on Bruce Nauman’s installation of the same name. The performance happens in the frame of Julia Kielmann’s exhibition Licht und Schatten. We start at 3pm. /// Save the date for LIBKEN WERKSCHAU! This year’s Werkschau presents works by artists who are active in Libken or have close ties to it: Jonas Johannes, Bettina Mileta, Andreas Steffen and myself. Paintings, installations and textile artworks can be seen Saturday and Sunday, May 4th and 5th! My performative reading, High Fidelity, happens Sunday at 2pm in the garden. Check our website for more info! ///
January 2024
January 2024 Beginnings of the year feel always difficult to me, so I’m trying to focus not on the new but on the things that continue. It gives me a sense of stability that can eventually get me into the mood of a new year, new round. In that sense: Already since autumn last year, as part of Tanzbüro Berlin’s tanzschreiber project, I am writing and publishing reviews on dance and performance works in Berlin. You can find my texts in German as well as the English translations on the website of tanzschreiber. Being a performance maker myself, writing about other people’s work is a really interesting process that helps me reflect not only upon the role of dance and other body-based practices, but also on my very personal preferences and the values they are rooted in. ///
December 2023
December 2023 I’m happy to share some images from the recent reading of High Fidelity at sophiensaele! Many warm thanks to Judith Milz, Isabel Lewis, Dirk Bell, Roman Widder, Hannes Becker and Gabriel Becak for the talks and your practical support! /// Sophiensaele’s reopening under a new team of curators will be celebrated in December with the festival Trust the process. During the festival, Isabel Lewis and Dirk Bell will be entertaining a hosting space at the former canteen of sophiensaele. There is free soup every day and a diverse program of artists showing and sharing music, tastes, words, and much more. On the 12th of December at 5pm, you can be my guest for High Fidelity, a performative reading in German language that circulates around ears, voices and the sense of hearing. “Für Johanna war die Existenz ihrer Stimmen natürlich nicht fraglich. Zum ersten Mal hörte sie diese am Abend, wahrscheinlich bei Sonnenuntergang. Sie erwähnt die Kirchenglocken, die die Nacht einläuten. Sie ist auf dem Feld, um die Schafe ihres Vaters nach Hause zu holen.” Photo: AI and I ///